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The Rt Hon Ian McCartney MP (Minister of State in the Cabinet Office): Good morning, Brothers and Sisters. Let me give a belated welcome to the city of my birth, and to say that 66 years ago my father joined the Textile Workers Union. Even though he is now over 80, he is still a trades union activist and very proud of the fact that the TUC has come to Glasgow in this centenary of the year the trades union and labour Movement created the Labour Party.

On the quay, just opposite, which you will see, that was where I, at the age of 15, joined my first iron ore carrier and went to sea as a member of the National Union of Seamen. After three weeks I thought I had better have a career change when I came back. But it was an all too short visit to look at places far and wide.

Last year, a few days after we presented these awards, my son died. It was the strength and support of the letters, phone calls and the friendship from trade unions and trade unionists across Britain which helped me and my family through the past difficult year. With your generosity of spirit and also your generosity in financial terms, in this City today, there are four projects up and running now to assess young people who have got a drug, alcohol or abuse problem. With your generosity, there will be young people who will be alive today who may not have been. I want to thank you on behalf of my family for that generosity. (Applause)

Colleagues, I am known for my diplomatic skills. When I was in the DTI I had to go to Japan to meet our colleagues there, and I went to a factory which made robots. The Japanese are very proud of their robots. In front of the assembled workforce was the president of the company, and I was asked to watch robots playing traditional Japanese drums. I just knew that at the end of it he was going to ask me what I thought of this, and being a diplomat, at the end of it when we all cheered and clapped the robots, I said to him, "When they can play the bagpipes, come back and see us". (Laughter)

Colleagues, I hope this morning is going to be as much a credit as it was last year. There are three awards; the Women's Gold Badge, the Men's Gold Badge and the Youth Award. The recipients are the embodiment of all that is good in the labour movement, representing without fear or favour their fellow workers. Day in, day out, month in, month out, year after year, they have represented workers in their place of work, promoting good practice, promoting the cause of trade unionism and promoting the skills and abilities of their fellow workers, and sometimes they do it at their personal cost. So the awards today to the three people concerned are not just personal awards to them but a recognition to the tens of thousands of men and women who each and every day go about their jobs on behalf of our movement, without whom we would not have the strong, vibrant movement that we have today. So it is a recognition to both them and to the movement as a whole.

Being a trade union representative is not an easy task. Yes, it has been a bit easier in the past year as trade union membership has increased and employers are recognising more the worth of the trade unions in the workplace, but there will never be a day when every employer will be on board for collective representation in the workplace. It is like painting the Fourth Bridge - when you get to the end you have to start again. That is why it is important that we recognise the worth of our members, because it is our members who gather the strength of the Movement, year in and year out, with employers large and small across the country. So, it is a privilege for someone like me to be asked to come and preside over these awards.

The words which I have been given this morning, are about three very special people. They are not my words but the words of their fellow representatives from the T&G, the GMB and the MSF. It is what their fellow workers, their fellow trade unionists, think about their contribution, and that is why these words are most powerful.

Let me tell you, John and Rita, that I have been head-hunted by the CBI. They have offered me a full-time job. At the last meeting of the CBI, Digby Jones said, "I think it is time you came and worked here full-time". Thompson raised a finger, and he said, "Perhaps we should ask someone to give us a resum'e of this man's career. Perhaps we should ask someone to give him a reference". This was agreed. Somebody leaked it to John Monks and John Monks passed it to me last night. I will read it to you. This is a letter to Digby Jones. "I saw Ian on Question Time last night. He is a most ignorant, arrogant, lying, uncaring, hypocritical, bombastic, thieving little sod this nation has ever seen." This is a reference for a job at the CBI. (Applause) "I would not trust him with my dog. A disgusted Peter Mandelson." (Laughter) So I will stick with my day job in the Cabinet Office at the moment and work part-time for the TUC at weekends.

Colleagues, I am going to proceed by introducing the Women's Gold Badge recipient, the Men's Gold Badge recipient and, last but not least, the Youth Award winner.

The Women's Gold Badge is to be awarded to Monica Taylor. She is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union. She has been a shop steward since 1974 and has recently been elected to the General Executive Council of the Union. Within the Union she sits on the Regional Committee, the Women's Committee and the Regional Race Committee. Whilst serving on these committees she has campaigned on many issues including domestic violence, sexual harassment and health and safety at work. At the same time, she has worked hard to raise her three children after becoming a widow at a very early age. Therefore, for somebody very much involved in her own community as well as the trade union movement, she has been a lay tutor and she has also been a school governor. She has made a wonderful contribution. I invite you to welcome her this morning. (Applause)

I now come to the Men's Gold Badge, which is to be presented to Raymond Southall of MSF. You always learn something when you meet someone. Being a member of the MSF is all right but, even better, he is a rugby league fan. I cannot believe my luck. For two years running somebody from the rugby league world has won the gold badge.

Raymond Southall has been a member of the MSF for 42 years, and he has served at every level in the trade union movement, from staff representative to branch secretary, chairing his region's own industrial section and representing his union at conferences in London, Brussels and Florence. During a 13 week long strike in 1998, he played a pivotal role because he chaired the strike's welfare committee. Imaginatively, he ran a confidential welfare rights' advice service. He is also very much committed to his local community in Barrow in Cumbria, where he is involved in his local church and local economic regeneration projects. Please welcome Raymond Southall.

(Applause)

Last but not least is the Youth Award winner Libby Holden. She is a member of the London Region of the GMB. She is 26 years old and she has been a member of the union for three-and-a-half years, and it has been an action packed three-and-a-half years.

During this time she has been a youth officer, an equal rights officer within her own branch, and she has also been the London Region's spokesperson on the GMB's National Young Members' Advisory Committee. Libby has represented young workers in the press and on television. She has just finished working for the Basic Skills Agency. When she started there, she was the only union member. Through her own organising efforts, she has organised the workforce where over half of them are members of the GMB. I whisper that in case Ken Jackson leaves to get the other half. (Laughter)

Due to her organising skills, she is now moving on in a career, not moving on from the trade union and labour movement -- we have not lost her desire to develop her skills and to get more young people to join the movement - to work for the Greater London Authority. I will say no more about that. Colleagues, please welcome Libby Holden. (Applause)

This is the point where I have to conduct a short interview with each of the recipients. It did not work last year because neither ITN or BBC offered me a job. This is to give the recipients an opportunity to have their say on whatever they wish to talk about.

Monica, what did you feel like when you were told that you had won this award?

Monica Taylor (Transport and General Workers Union): I cried, but at the same time I was elated. I was really glad, but not glad for me because the award is not about me but about women within the trade union movement.

Mr McCartney: That is very kind of you. In your work, is there anything which you think we should be pushing in terms of issues?

Ms Taylor: First of all, can I say that I feel honoured to be the recipient of this award. It is indeed a great privilege to be recognised by Congress in this way, and I thank you. I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to the Midlands Region of the Transport and General Workers Union for my nomination and my union nationally, who not only supported my nomination but has, in recent years, made great strides by ensuring our inclusion in our great democracy structures. Without this my award would not have been possible.

I would also like to thank my family for their unswerving support, because without them I could not dedicate my time to this great movement.

Mr McCartney: Thank you. (Applause)

When I was reading Raymond's CV yesterday I noticed that during your life you have done a lot of work on pensions and in terms of representing fellow workers on pension schemes. What is your view of your experiences? What should be done to protect workers in their pension schemes?

Raymond Southall (MSF): Thank you, Ian. I was a pension trustee for nearly ten years for the Shipbuilding Industries Pension Scheme. That was a responsibility that I took very seriously. When people retire now, they spend nearly as many years in retirement as they did when working. I am of the opinion that good company pension schemes should be high on the trade union agenda and maintaining wherever possible final salary schemes.

Not wishing to steal the Chancellor's thunder, I believe that the State pension should be overhauled and that the senior citizens should be more justly rewarded for their lifetime's work. I would have liked to have said more.

Mr McCartney: That was fine, Raymond. I think we get your drift.

Mr Southall: I would like to add as well that I felt extremely proud to be one of four to be chosen by my union to go forward from amongst my own union. When I received the information that I was to receive my union's nomination, I felt extremely privileged on behalf of my union and on behalf of the local branch that I represent. I feel extremely honoured and proud to be here today.

Mr McCartney: Thank you for saying that.

Last but not least, we have our young trade union member, and you are the future for the movement. Without denigrating any wrinklies in the audience, what do you think we should be doing to encourage more young people to join trade unions and see trade unions as relevant to their lives?

Ms Holden: I do not think that you can differentiate between young people and everybody else. I think it is often a false assumption that you need to do something gimmicky or special to attract people into the union movement. If the union movement is strong enough and it is clear enough about what its aims are, then young people will join as long as the message gets across and as long as they understand what benefits there are for them.

Mr McCartney: Thank you, Libby. I would like to ask you all a question and perhaps you could answer it as shortly as you can. If you were given the job to write the next manifesto for the General Election, what would be your number one issue that you would like to see included?

Ms Taylor: My number one issue would be campaigning on domestic violence and sexual harassment.

Mr Southall: For myself, I stick with the pensions. I think that young people nowadays do not realise how much effort they should put in. I believe that the Labour Party and the Government should really be concentrating a lot of their efforts towards pensions and the State pension.

Ms Holden: Mine would be a continuation of the legislation which has taken place on the minimum wage, obviously increasing the minimum wage and also getting rid of the exemptions for 16-17 year olds, and increasing the amount for under 21 year olds.

Mr McCartney: Thank you. Colleagues, I am going to ask Rita Donaghy, your President, to come across and present the awards to our three more than worthy recipients. I think you can see from the short answers that, as well as the amount that they have done, they still have a lot of ambition for their fellow colleagues in the workplace. Let us give a really rousing round of applause to our colleagues this morning. (Presentations made amidst applause)

The President: Ian, thank you very much for that. It was great to see you again at Congress.

Mr McCartney: Good luck for the rest of the Conference. I look forward to meeting you next year.

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